


Old Money

by claremontpsych



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Brightwell, Dani Powell - Freeform, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Inspired by Prodigal Son (TV 2019), Malcolm Bright - Freeform, Malcolm Bright Gets a Hug, Party, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, malcolm drags dani to a rich people party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:07:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23226034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/claremontpsych/pseuds/claremontpsych
Summary: “Thank you for this.”“For what?”“For inviting me into your world, I guess. It’s actually kind of fun,” She grins, teasing him lightly.“Any time, darling. Any time”He spins her again and dramatically dips her, busting out laughing as he does. She laughs with him, knowing it’s drawing them far too much attention-- she can’t be bothered to care, though.OR, a Brightwell one shot in which Malcolm drags Dani to a gala, and she’s not so sure how to feel about it.
Relationships: Malcolm Bright & Jessica Whitly, Malcolm Bright/Dani Powell
Comments: 4
Kudos: 70





	Old Money

Dani had been dreading this moment since Malcolm told her about it a couple months ago. It was the very beginning of their relationship, and he informed her of an event his mother was sinking her money into. He brought it up only because he required a date, and he wouldn’t dare take anyone but her. It was a gala, of sorts, at which all of New York City’s most esteemed families and their respective cohorts conglomerated to drink champagne and gossip about the behind the scenes at Wall Street. Or so she presumed, at least. He promised her that there would be food and drink provided, and all that she would have to do is show up and look gorgeous-- the latter of which he assured her she already had under control. She eventually agreed to go with him, begrudgingly, and informed him that he owes her one for this. He only laughed and reassured her that it won’t be as awful as she thinks it will.

She had so, so many doubts about that. She knew she wasn’t the type of woman to attend these events, but Malcolm is the type of man to do so. Albeit it often isn’t on his own accord, he still goes and he wears thousand dollar suits with equally as expensive watches and shoes and he accepts that that’s him. Dani was never such a fortunate person. Her idea of a grand night out is going to the bar with JT and beating him at darts. You could give her a shot of every liquor on this earth and she’d still throw a bullseye every time, and for that JT occasionally wants to put a bullet in her (but in a loving kind of way). To Dani, that was fun, and it most certainly wasn’t a Whitly Family Gala, or whatever the hell this event may be. 

It was roughly three weeks after her initial invitation to the old money event of the year that she realized she didn’t own a single thing expensive enough to even consider wearing to this thing. The closest she came to it was the dress he got her when they had to crash Cal Taylor’s wedding, but she assumed now was a time to consider the unspoken rule of never wearing the same dress twice. That night was one of very few times that Detective Dani Powell had met Jessica Whitly, but to say met is to be generous. The two have exchanged words in passing, but as Malcolm’s date to this event, she must meet his mother for real this time, and all she wants is to make a good impression. Thus, Malcolm took matters into his own hands, and took her to a high end dress shop on the Upper East Side, where he told her to choose whatever dress struck her fancy most, and that he would buy it regardless of the price. Of course, Dani still checked the price on every dress as she tried it on, and Malcolm endlessly scolded her.

“I have the money, I promise. I could buy you the whole store right now if I had to.” He chuckled, “Just pick a dress you like and I’ll handle the rest.”

She eventually sighed and picked a handful of dresses she thought were nice, and rushed off to a dressing room to try them on. And only three dresses and an exasperated “I don’t know if I can do this, Bright,” later, she found the one. A simple black ball gown with pockets, which she immediately considered sneaking her gun into, just in case. Malcolm shut that idea down immediately, but couldn’t hide the fact that his jaw fell into the floor when he saw her in it. She was stunning, as per usual, and he couldn’t help but grab her by the waist and quickly kiss her. She changed out of the dress and he rushed to buy it for her, insisting that it was “only a few hundred dollars” and “a drop in the bucket” to him. The following week, he was buying her shoes and diamond accessories, and she nearly fainted at the nonchalant way he could spend money on her, and not even worry about affording his bills for the next month. He was insane, but in the best way possible.

In the month leading up to the gala, Dani had nearly as many anxiety attacks as Malcolm himself, and that’s saying something. She was nervous about just about everything involving the rapidly approaching event, and he was just being him. They made for an odd pairing and they knew it, but they embraced it. And he never failed to remind her that he was there for her, and that he would make sure that the gala and everything in relation to it would go off without a hitch for her. And as she walked paces around his apartment in her new designer black heels to break them in, he would only smile and remind her of her beauty. Although they hadn’t reached the point of saying it yet, he knew he loved her. Even if he found it kind of amusing that she was this scared of a room full of middle aged rich people. 

Four more weeks pass, and the fateful Saturday night has fallen upon the couple. Malcolm has already gotten ready, throwing on a simple black suit and putting some product in his hair. For Dani, however, the process was far less simple. Malcolm had already helped her into the dress and watched as she spent over an hour (which he found simply baffling) applying makeup, ensuring that it was absolutely perfect. Now, she’s working on her hair, straightening it to pull it into a bun at the nape of her neck as she did for their last event.

“I wish you’d leave your hair curly for one of these,” Malcolm comments, walking past the bathroom to find her still working on her hair, “You don’t have to change how you look to impress me, or my mother for that matter.”

She smiles, “I know, but it’s my first proper time meeting her, so I figured I would put in the work.”

She made quick work of throwing the last pins into her hair and finally she exits the bathroom, immediately meeting Malcolm’s arms. He pulls her into a warm embrace, mumbling reassurances into her ear.

“You are so, so beautiful,” He says slowly, drawing out every word individually, leaving a gentle kiss under her ear before letting her go. “Get your shoes on and for the love of God, don’t put the gun in your pocket. We’ve got to leave soon.”

She nods, “No promises,” she chuckles, putting her heels on and heading out the door to hail the pair a cab. He double checks that they’ve got everything and follows her out, saying goodbye to Sunshine the parakeet before shutting the door. They manage to get a cab pretty quickly and Malcolm tells the driver the address, taking Dani’s hand and giving it a squeeze.

In what felt like hours to Dani, but was really only a few minutes, they arrive at the far-too-glamorous venue and she takes a deep breath, calming herself, before being helped out of the cab by Malcolm. He leads her into the venue, immediately trying to find out where his mother is so he can avoid her for the rest of the night. Unfortunately, that plan fails and he finds himself running headfirst into Jessica, Dani barely a step behind him.

“Malcolm! You made it! And you brought a date!” She exclaims.

“Yes, um, hello mother. This is Dani-- my girlfriend. We met at work. Dani, this is my mother” He loosely explains, trying not to tell more than needs to be said. 

“Ah, yes. Nice to meet you, dear,” Jessica says, her focus shifted onto Dani instantly.

“Nice to meet you, too, Mrs. Whitly,” Dani smiles, nodding her head politely.

Mrs. Whitly insists on being called Jessica, as one would expect, and small talk ensues before Malcolm breaks Dani out of the conversation by offering to get them both hors d’oeuvres. Dani insists on following, and finally she lets out the breath she was holding. They find the food rather fast, and Dani fills a plate and finds her way to one of the few tables set up around the room. Malcolm follows upon getting his own food, as well as obtaining himself a glass of champagne and Dani sprite in a champagne flute. He knows she wants to fit in here, but he also knows her commitment to sobriety, and he intends to respect it.

They eat in peace, miraculously, and some time later find themselves on the dancefloor, swaying along to some love song that Malcolm doesn’t know in the foggiest. He just wanted the excuse to show off his girl, and thus he offered to dance with her. She accepted, of course, because who was she to deny him in his rare moment of chivalry. In fact, he proceeded to offer to dance to the following song, and the song after that. Dani finds herself surprised, but Malcolm just smiles.

“I just want you to enjoy yourself” He hums over the music, twirling her and pulling her close to him.

“Well, it isn’t as awful as I was expecting, so I guess I am,” She laughs, “Thank you for this.”

“For what?”

“For inviting me into your world, I guess. It’s actually kind of fun,” She grins, teasing him lightly.

“Any time, darling. Any time”

He spins her again and dramatically dips her, busting out laughing as he does. She laughs with him, knowing it’s drawing them far too much attention-- she can’t be bothered to care, though.

The night draws to a close a few hours later, and they hail a cab home. Home, at this point, being Malcolm’s Manhattan loft, where they’re greeted by chirps from his beloved parakeet, as always. Dani kicks her shoes off as soon as she’s through the door, halfway through untying her own dress, as well. She changes in the bathroom, “borrowing” one of his (very old) Harvard tees from college, as well as his old pajama pants. No longer his, it seems. Outside the bathroom door, he puts his own pajamas on-- ones that haven’t yet been reclaimed by Dani. He runs a shaky hand through his hair quickly to knock the gel out, and throws himself into bed. She joins him after taking off her makeup and brushing out her hair, hoping to loosen the hairspray. 

He grins at her, “Thank you for coming tonight. I hope you know it meant a lot to me.”

“I know. Thank you for inviting me,” she smiles softly, cuddling into him.

He pauses for a moment, thinking long and hard on something, before whispering “I love you” to her.

She looks up at him, as if trying to confirm his words, before returning with her own “I love you too, Bright.”

They spend some time talking, mostly about the case they have to return to after this, before he restrains himself out of caution. She then positions herself in such a way that avoids the restraints but leaves her head over his heart, where she always tends to lay, and quickly falls asleep. He smiles at her before eventually falling asleep himself.

**Author's Note:**

> More fluff! Yay! I'll be following this up w/ some Malcolm whump content though, I promise. Can't stray too far from writing about the idiot boy being idiot. Pls dont forget to leave comments/Kudos, it means a lot to me!
> 
> Come hang on tumblr, I don't bite- claremontpsych


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